Saturday, March 15, 2014

Bullied schoolboy told to leave his My Little Pony bag at home

A mother and her 9-year-old son say school officials in North Carolina won't let him take a My Little Pony bag to school. The boy and his mother say he's getting shoved around because bullies think his pick of a favourite toy is for girls.

Grayson's mother Noreen Bruce, says: "It's promoting friendship, there's no bad words, there's no violence, it's hard to find that, even in cartoons now." But Noreen says on Thursday the school asked him to leave the bag at home because it had become a distraction and was a "trigger for bullying." Noreenn added: "Saying a lunchbox is a trigger for bullying, is like saying a short skirt is a trigger for rape. It's flawed logic, it doesn't make any sense."

Noreen wants punishment for the students involved. Buncombe County Schools said in statement: "An initial step was taken to immediately address a situation that had created a disruption in the classroom. Buncombe County Schools takes bullying very seriously, and we will continue to take steps to resolve this issue." So Grayson is using a different bag to carry his lunch to school, but he and his mother say they don't believe it's right to force him to leave the My Little Pony bag at home.

I think there's a misunderstanding here. The school is taking a sensible approach, it's saying it is taking other steps to stop the bullying, but the bag in question it the trigger for him being perceived as 'different'. Maybe he has every right to carry it, but the fact remains that it's a trigger for bullying. Like a red rag to a bull, perhaps1728 . On entering a bull's territory, maybe you have every right to express your colour choice, and he's wrong to gore you. Which would you rather be? Vindicated in your colour choice, or intact?